Endless belt for dishwashing machines and having snap-on links



Se t. 14, 1965 H. F. LYMAN 3,205,005

ENDLESS BELT FOR DISHWASHING MACHINES AND HAVING SNAP-ON LINKS FiledMarch 12, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. H D MER F. LYMAN MQMMATTEIRNEY H- F. LYMAN Sept. 14, 1965 ENDLESS BELT FOR DISHWASHINGMACHINES AND HAVING SNAP-ON LINKS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 12INVENTOR. H El M E R F. LY MAN ATTDRNEY Se t. 14, 1965 H. F. LYMAN3,206,005

ENDLESS BELT FOR DISHWASHING MACHINES AND HAVING SNAP-ON LINKS FiledMarch 12, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 g 7 INVENTOR.

HUMER F. LYMAN ATTORNEY United States Patent This invention relates toendless belts used in commercial dishwashing machines. A belt'havingsnap-on links of novel design is contemplated. This design permitseasier assembly, facilitates link replacement, integrates .belt fabricand offers versatile belt management.

As in prior belt arrangements, cylindrical rods are disposedtransversely relative the course of the belt. Links are rotatablyconnected to both a leading and a trailing rod so that the belt can beturned in completing its endless course. Socket-on-rod joints providerotatable connection of links to rods.

Links according to the present teaching are each provided with an endsocket and a side socket. To install a link, the end socket is firstmounted in rotatable engagement on one rod. The link is then turnedabout the rod and the bifurcated jaws defining the side socket aredeformed to snap onto a second rod. By this arrangement the forcerequired to deform plastic links can be provided by hand. Of course linkremoval is accomplished by the converse of the foregoing operation, sothis design is especially valuable for link replacement.

Another advantage of this invention is that sockets disposed at rightangles to each other present an opportunity for integrating the beltinto a relatively uniform fabric. End sockets and side sockets arealternated along each rod to integrate the belt fabric. Because of thisunified fabric, awkward design conditions, such as revolving the beltthrough 180 turns with space at a premium, become less critical. Inmaking a turn, some end sockets are always positioned to resist forceswhich might otherwise pull out rods from side sockets. Improved turningpermits smaller turning radii than were heretofore possible withcomparable snap-on links. Thus a more compact dishwasher is achieved.

A further advantage of this unified belt fabric is that the effortrequired to move the belt is made more uniform. Accordingly peak driverequirements are leveled so that the motor size may be reduced in somecases.

With pots and pans and low-skilled help, impact loads become inevitable.Dishwashing machines must be ready for hard use. Toward this objectiverollers are here arranged to project beyond the upper ends of plasticpegs to protect those pegs from impact.

These and other features will appear more fully from the acompanyingdrawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side View, partly broken away, showing a dishwashingmachine having an endless belt embodying the present invention.

FIGURES 2 and 3 are respectively a fragmented top view and a fragmentedside section depicting a portion of the belt. FIGURE 3 is taken alongline 3-3 of FIG- URE 2 to illustrate the alternating arrangement of endsockets and side sockets as well as the lateral projection of thesockets.

FIGURES 4 and 5 illustrates the insertion of a link. FIGURE 4 is a sideelevation of a link showing an end socket fitted onto a rod. FIGURE 5shows the side socket after its jaws have been deformed to snap onto thenext rod. FIGURE 5 also depicts rollers mounted at the tops of the pegs.

FIGURES 6 and 7 are sections taken along line 66 and 7-7 respectively ofFIGURE 5.

In its broad aspects the shown dishwasher is familiar to industry. Belt11 describes an endless course having upper run 12 and lower run 13. Thedishwashing process is performed along upper run 12. Dishes 14 are fedonto belt 11 in feed zone 16. Belt 11 conveys the dishes through housing17 wherein they are washed by means of spray nozzles 18 in a manner wellknown. Belt 11 then moves the dishes to unloadingg zone 19. An automaticsafety switch is generally provided to stop the belt in the event thereis a failure to remove dishes therefrom. Belt 11 is recycled to feedzone 16 via lower run 13.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the belt is disposed between side drive chains 21.Rods 22 are generally made of stainless steel and are mountedtransversely of the endless course followed by the belt. Rods 22 areuniformly spaced from each other to define successive pairs of adjacentrods. Each rod is connected to drive chains 21 and is supported bywheels 23 which ride on suitable tracks. Belt 11 passes over sprocketwheels 24 between upper run 12 and lower run 13. As shown in FIGURE 1,drive means are operatively connected with one of the sprocket wheels 24by means of chain transmission 26.

Links 27 are seen in FIGURE 3 to be mounted between rods 22 to supportdishes and similar articles in position for washing or other operations.Links 27 are generally formed of non-corrosive material. Virgin zytel ispreferred. These links move clockwise in the shown embodiment and aregenerally U-shaped with leading pegs 28 intermediate portions 29 andtrailing pegs 31. Through upper run 12 pockets 32 open upward. Pegs 28and 31 define ridges 33 projecting into pockets 32 to engage the edgesof dishes disposed therein.

The mounting of links 27 between a first rod 22A and a second rod 22B ofa pair is best seen from FIGURES 4 and 5. Link 27 defines end socket 34.End bifurcated jaws 36 embrace first rod 22A in rotatable engagementwithin end socket 3 4. It is not mandatory that the end sockets 34 be ofthe snap-on variety, although snap-on sockets are preferred. Link 27also defines side socket 37. Side bifurcated jaws 38 are elasticallydeformable between an open condition and a normal condition. In the opencondition, side bifurcated jaws 38 are spread apart (generally bypressing them onto second rod 22B) so that side socket 37 issufiiciently large to pass second rod 22B. Link 27 is rotatable aboutfirst rod 22A to receive second rod 22B in side socket 37. When secondrod 22B is within side socket 37, the deforming force on side bifurcatedjaws 38 is relieved and jaws 38 return elastically to their normalcondition with side socket 37 closed suificiently to retain second rod22B in rotatable engagement therein.

To improve organization of the belt fabric, end sockets 34 alternatewith side sockets 37 as seen from FIGURE 2 viewed with FIGURE 3. Furthereach link 27 has its end socket 34 offset transversely from its sidesocket 37. In the shown arrangement, end sockets are all mounted towardthe right and the offset side sockets 37 are snapped on with a downwardthrust. Along each rod 22 rightward opening trailing links alternatewith downward opening leading links. 'It should be borne in mind thatend opening sockets can also alternate rightward and left- Ward and thatside opening sockets can alternate top and bottom.

As best seen in FIGURE 5, rollers 39' project past upper ends 41 of pegs128 and 311 to protect these pegs. Rollers 39 are mounted on upper rods42 which traverse openings 43 defined by leading pegs 28 and trailingpegs 31 respectively.

It will be apparent that details may be changed without departing fromthe main spirit of invention defined by the claims.

What is claimed is:

31. A lbelt describing an endless course having a direction of travel,the belt including a first rod and a second rod both disposedtransversely relative the course and spaced from each other, at leastone elongated link having a longitudinal axis spanning the rods, thelink also having opposed ends and opposed inner and outer sides, thelink defining an end socket the opening of which is facinglongitudinally with the link axis fashioned to receive the first rod inrotatable engagement therein, the link defining .a side socket facinglaterally relative the link axis and on the link inner side, the linkside socket elastically deformable between an open condition and anormal condition, in the open condition the side sockets sufiicien-tlylarge to pass the second rod, the link rotatable about the first rod toreceive the second rod in the side socket, in the normal condition theside socket closed sufliciently to retain the second rod in rotatableengagemen t therein, the link being oriented relative the course so thatthe end socket faces in said direction of travel.

2. The belt of claim '1 with the link including a leading peg and atrailing peg projecting outward from the course and from the link outerside and spaced from each other by an intermediate portion, the pegs andthe intermediate port-ion defining a U-shaped pocket therebetween.

3. A belt for a dishwashing machine and describing an I endless coursehaving a direction of travel, the :belt including a plurality of rodsdisposed transversely relative the course and spaced therealong, aplurality of elongated side-by-side links having longitudinal axesspanning between adjacent rods, the links also having opposed ends andopposed inner and out-er sides, each of the links defining an endsocket, the opening of which is facing longitudinally with the link axisadapted to rotatably engage a rod and a side socket facing laterallyrelative the link axis and on the link inner side also adapted torotatably engage a rod, alternate links of said side-by-side links hav-1 ing end sockets engaging one of said adjacent rods and side socketsengaging the other of said adjacent rods, the

remaining links being oppositely oriented so that end sockets and sidesockets alternate along each of the rods, each of the link side socketselastically deformable between an open condition and a normal condition,in the open condition each of the side sockets sufliciently large topass said rods, in the normal condition the side socket beingsufl'lciently small to retain the rods in rotatable engagement therein,rotatable engagement of the end sockets permitting pivoting of the linksso that the side sockets engage a rod, the links being oriented relativethe course so that the end sockets face in said direction of travel.

4. The belt of claim 3 with each of the links including a leading pegand a trailing peg projecting outward from the course and from the linkouter side and spaced from each other by an intermediate portion, thepegs and the intermediate portion of each link defining a U-shapedpocket the-rebetween and suitable for receiving dishes disposed endwisetherein.

5. The belt of claim 4 with the endless course including an upperhorizontal run and a lower horizontal run, the pegs projecting upwardduring the upper run so that the pockets open upward, at least one ofthe pegs defining at least one ridge projecting into a pocket andarranged to engage the edge of a dish disposed therein.

:6. The belt of claim 5 with each of the :links disposed along thecourse, each link having its end socket offset transversely in thecourse from its side socket.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,274,385- 8/18'Col-burn 198-195 X 2,631,465 3/53 Cordis l98-l=89 X 2,840,227 6/ 58Federiighi et al 198-134 X 3,044,601 7/62 Ellis 198---131 SAMUEL F.COLEMAN, Primary Examiner.

1. A BELT DESCRIBING AN ENDLESS COURSE HAVING A DIRECTION OF TRAVEL, THEBELT INCLUDING A FIRST ROD AND A SECOND ROD BOTH DISPOSED TRANSVERSELYRELATIVE THE COURSE AND SPACED FROM EACH OTHER, AT LEAST ONE ELONGATEDLINK HAVING A LONGITUDINAL AXIS SPANNING THE RODS, THE LINK ALSO HAVINGOPPOSED ENDS AND OPPOSED INNER AND OUTERE SIDES, THE LINK DEFINING ANEND SOCKET THE OPENING OF WHICH IS FACING LONGITUDINALLY WITH THE LINKAXIS FASHIONED TO RECEIVE THE FIRST ROD IN ROTATABLE ENGAGEMENT THEREIN,THE LINK DEFINING A SIDE SOCKET FACING LATERALLY RELATIVE THE LINK AXISAND ON THE LINK INNER SIDE, THE LINK SIDE SOCKET ELASTI-